Dave Billings says that it was while watching Bernard Brogan tussling with John O'Keeffe in a Trinity-UCD match that Kevin Heffernan realised "he had a player". Higher education competition has long been a breeding ground or finishing school for footballers and hurlers who go on to inter-county prominence.

Yet for all that, the participation of third-level teams in club competition has almost invariably been a source or resentment within the GAA. In recent times, that resentment has flared again. In Munster over the last two years, the success of both UL and UCC has provoked fury around the province. The small number of local players on these sides attracts most complaints, although this situation arises because GAA rules don't allow a player to enter the same county championship twice. This year the sniping has been directed at UCD, Dublin hurling champions for the first time since 1968, who tomorrow face St Anne's of Wexford in the AIB Leinster club championship. Billings is the GAA's development officer in UCD. His curriculum vitae gives him an authoritative perspective on the issue.

A Sigerson footballer with UCD, he is also a St Vincent's man. A member of clubmate Kevin Heffernan's Dublin panel in the 1970s, he says Heffernan learned a lot from the keen rivalry between St Vincent's and UCD in those days. He is philosophical about the latest dig at college teams - the ruling that Paddy O'Brien, corner forward with Tipperary champions Toomevara, must play with his home club in the Munster championship and cannot hurl with UCD in Leinster despite having been a big influence on the county title-winning team.

Billings' view is that if O'Brien was eligible for the county championship, he should be allowed play in Leinster. The GAA Official Guide specifically makes provision for students playing with a college and home club (provided it's in a different county) and there is a belief that the ruling on O'Brien would have been ripe for a challenge.

"There was a body of opinion which said: `have a go at it', but you wouldn't want to put any player under that sort of stress," says Billings. One of UCD's most prominent players is midfielder Stephen Lucey. He is at the tail-end of a hectic year which saw him win an All-Ireland under-21 medal with Limerick, reach for the first time the football equivalent which the county lost to Tyrone, and also play in both the Fitzgibbon and Sigerson finals with UCD.

"I can understand the criticism," he says. "If you were playing for your club, you'd hate to see a college winning the county. But it's the first time in 32 years that UCD won the Dublin title. It's not as if it's something that happens all the time, just every so often you get strong players coming together.

"For us it's great. If you look at each player's situation, a good few might be with junior clubs. My own club Croom has only ever won (a senior championship) once in Limerick. For us (UCD) to win a senior county championship is a great honour and for a lot of us, we may never get the chance again."

He is unhappy at the fate suffered by O'Brien. "To lose any player is bad enough but Paddy was very important for us, our free-taker. He's injured at the moment but even if Toomevara are knocked out, he won't be able to play for us so there'll be no championship for him."

Billings believes that under the new inter-county football championship structure, future prospects for third-level clubs aren't great. "With so many extra fixtures, there's not going to be many spare Sundays and with club activity tightly regulated, players will find it hard to play in two championships."

This he sees as a matter for regret - "a lot of fellas will never play at a higher level" - but sees a compromise solution. "If the Sigerson and Fitzgibbon Cups were put forward to the first term the way they used to be, I think the winners should be allowed enter the All-Ireland club championships at the quarter-finals."

Tomorrow's challenge brings UCD to Gorey to face Wexford dual champions St Anne's. The verbal exchanges have already started, with Lucey and fellow student Redmond Barry, who lines out with the opposition, taking cracks of each other. Lucey acknowledges that the college support isn't mass-spectator stuff but feels their progress deserves recognition. "We have friends and family and a lot of students who'll be there, but there wouldn't be that much support for us within Dublin. But with a bit of luck, we might be representing Dublin in the Leinster final or even in the All-Ireland."